Mikvaot: Difference between revisions

##Some rishonim think that it is biblically invalid if it is filled up with water that was drawn with a kli that are susceptible to tumah or a person's kli that is susceptible to tumah and only rabbinically invalid if it is filled up with water that was drawn in a kli that isn’t susceptible to tumah.<ref>Rash Mikavot 2:3 writes that if the water was drawn by something that's susceptible to tumah it is biblically invalid based on Zevachim 25b. However, if it was filled with kelim that aren't susceptible to tumah it is only rabbinically invalid. Yad Ramah b"b 66b agrees. However, in Tosfot (Bava Batra 66a s.v. leolam) agrees with Rabbenu Tam that sheuvim is deoritta. Shaarei Mikavot (Shaar Hatziyun 4) writes that the Lechem Vsimla think that the Rash retracted at the end, while the Radvaz and Minchat Yitzchak hold that the Rash didn’t retract. Rashba (Bava Batra 66b s.v. shani) quotes this Rash.</ref>

##Some rishonim think that if it was filled up intentionally a person it is biblically invalid, but if it was filled in kelim by themselves it is only invalid rabbinically.<ref>Raavad cited by Ramban (Bava Batra 66b s.v. shani) and Rashba (Bava Batra 66b s.v. shani)</ref>

===Intention===

===Tefisat Yadey Adam Grama===

#The main discussion of [[Tefisat Yedey Adam]] is on its own page.

===Zeriya===

==Hashaka==

# It is possible to validate an entire pit of drawn water by connecting with a mikveh momentarily,<ref>Rashba, Rosh, Shulchan Aruch YD 201:52</ref> however, some say that the connection needs to remain open for the drawn water to remain fit.<ref>Rabbenu Yerucham cites a dispute. Shach 201:112 writes that it is good to be strict. Chatom Sofer YD 212 writes that the mikveh in his town for many years built by established rabbis relied on the opinions that a momentary connection is sufficient. Gidulei Tahara 10 holds that temporary hashaka is very problematic and shouldn't be relied on even after the fact. He infers from Rash, Rambam, and Raavad that they hold it is invalid. Kehilat Yakov (Macot siman 5) shows that Rashi holds that temporary hashaka doesn't work. Mishna Mikvaot 6:3 clearly implies like Rosh that temporary hashaka works. Bet Efraim YD 53 suggests that those who are strict explain that the mishna is based on bitul and not hashaka. Bet Shlomo 2:63 suggests that the mishna means that the waters are only temporarily kosher, for example, if people went into the pits again. This explanation is found in Rivash 294.  </ref> There is a minority opinion that hashaka doesn't work at all for sheuvim,<ref>Tosfot Rid 15 s.v. vehachaver Ri. Bedek Habayit 201:29 seems to understand Rambam to hold that hashaka is invalid to purify sheuvim water. </ref> but it is completely rejected from the halacha.<ref>Rosh Bava Kama 7, Ramban Bava Batra 65b</ref>

===Size of Hashaka Hole===

# According to Ashkenazim, the connection between the rainwater pit and sheuvim pit has to be a hole that has a diameter of 2 fingerbreadths that can turn around, while according to Sephardim a hole of any size would suffice.<ref>Rash (Taharot 8:9), Meiri (Mikvaot 6:1) quoting Rash, Shulchan Aruch YD 201:52. Teshuvat Rid 15 s.v. vehachaver writes that a connection of two fingerbreadths is insufficient for converting drawn water to be usable. It is only for connecting two incomplete mikvaot is it sufficient. He says even though he understands why it should work there’s no clear proof that is the case. Shevet Halevi 4:121:2 writes that is implausible to suggest that the Raavad held that hashaka doesn’t work for drawn water because it is against all of the rishonim.

#Some say that if water is in a pipe that is on a slant connecting two mikvaot that isn't katafras because the top water will eventually end up in the bottom mikvah.<Ref>The Mishna (Mikvaot 6:8) allows connecting two mikvaot one above the other on a mountain with a pipe. Why isn't that katafras? Rash answers that katafras isn't a problem for sheuvim. Tosfot Yom Tov (Mikvaot 6:8) based on Tosfot Gittin 16a answers that since the water will definitely flow from the upper mikvah to the bottom one it isn't katafras.</reF>

==Tevilah in and on a Kli==

# One may not go to mikveh in a kli and that is invalid biblically.<ref>Tosfot Pesachim 17b s.v. elah</ref>

# One may not go to mikveh standing on top of a kli. <ref>Raavad Baalei Hanefesh siman 1 writes that a woman may not go to mikveh on top of a kli that is mekabel tumah. She can go on top of a kli cheres since it does't have tumah on its backside. Mishna Mikvaot 5:2 states that mayan water that goes into or over a kli is unfit for a mikveh. The Raavad explains that this is based on a prohibition lest a person go to mikveh in a kli. Rashba Torat Habayit Hakatzar 30a and Rabbenu Yerucham 26:5 cited by Bet Yosef 198 agree. Ran Shevuot 6b s.v. isha cites the Raavad. Similarly, the Rash Mikvaot 5:2 limits the issue of going to mikveh in a kli to where the kli is attached to ground because it might be used as an unfit mikveh but if it is detached from the ground there's no restriction. The Bet Yosef understands the Rosh Mikvaot 9 as disagreeing with this idea.  

* However, the Rosh Mikvaot 32 and Rambam Mikvaot 1:11 don't mention this restriction of the Raavad. They might have understood the mishna differently. Bet Yosef 198:31 explains the Rambam that a mikveh is only unfit if in the creation of the mikveh all of the water went over a kli on its way to the mikveh whether that kli has a receptacle or not. Rabbinically it is invalid to go to the mikveh over a kli even if it doesn't have a receptacle and even that water after it has come out of that kli is only a mikveh and not a mayan. But going to mikveh on top of a kli in the mikveh is fit. Alternatively, the restriction was only for a kli without a receptacle but an overturned kli with a receptacle is permitted since it is evident that it isn't being used for a mikveh. Nonetheless, Shulchan Aruch 198:31 rules like the Raavad.</ref>

==A Colored Mikveh==

* Not all rishonim agree that this is a pasul at all for mikveh. Yereyim 26 writes that the derivation of Zevachim 25b only applies to a mayan but not a mikveh. Mordechai (Shevuot 746, cited by Bet Yosef 201:48) quotes this Yereyim as well as Rabbenu Shmuel who agrees. Bet Yosef 201:48 and Mishna Achrona (Parah 6:4) add that Rambam also holds like this. See also Lechem Vsimla (201:16:5 s.v. harambam). However, Rashi (Zevachim 25b s.v. havaytan) writes that the gemara is relevant even to a mikveh.</ref>

# If the mikveh that was created with something that is susceptible to tumah and is invalid is connected to a mayan it is fixed and made valid again. However, some hold that it is still invalid.<ref>The Rosh Mikvaot n. 12 writes that hashaka works for a mayan to be connected a mikveh and transform it into a kosher one. Specifically, he says that it can remove the invalidation of being created with something susceptible to tumah. The Bet Yosef 201:49 infers from the Rashba 3:228 that it is ineffective. Shulchan Aruch 201:49 follows the Rosh but also quotes Rashba who is strict. Shach 201:105 arguing with the Hagahot Perisha in fact states that this connection only needs to be temporary in order to validate the mikveh. See Minchat Yitzchak 1:146:12 who quotes Kav Mayim Chayim who argues that even Rashba would accept the view of Rosh if there is a connection of shifoferet hanod. Chelkat Binyamin implies otherwise.</ref>

# A flat wooden board without edges that is used to direct water into a mikveh if the water would have flowed that way anyway it is valid, if not, some poskim say it is valid and others hold it is invalid.<ref>The Rosh Mikvaot n. 5 writes that if a board without edges is used to direct water into a mikveh it is valid if the water would have entered anyway, otherwise it is invalid because the mikveh was created by use of something that is susceptible to tumah (Mikvaot 5:5). The Bet Yosef 201:35 suggests that either the case is where the wooden board is susceptible to tumah since it used to have an edge and that edge was removed or that since flat wooden vessels are rabbinically susceptible to tumah that invalidates the mikveh. The Taz 201:43 and Shach 201:76 offer another answer such that the flat wooden board is designated for a use making it susceptible to tumah. They disagree with the concept of the Bet Yosef that vessels that are rabbinically susceptible to tumah invalidate the mikveh. However, the Chazon Ish Mikvaot 7:5 agrees with the Bet Yosef that we’re strict about something that is rabbinically susceptible to tumah. Chelkat Binyamin 201:511 cites the two approaches.</ref> The poskim are only strict if the wooden board was used to service people and utensils such as a tray, table, and bed board.<ref>

Which wooden utensils are susceptible to tumah?

===Attached to the ground===

===Indirectly using something that is susceptible to tumah===

# If a non-Jew owns a mikveh if you know that there was always at least 21 seah some say that you can be lenient to rely on the non-Jew who says that it was completed with rainwater. Many poskim hold that you can’t be lenient.<ref>The Rosh responsa writes that if a non-Jew owns a mikveh we can’t rely on him because the mikveh might have become lacking and he completed it with drawn water. Shulchan Aruch 201:4 accepts the Rosh. The Taz and Bach understood Shulchan Aruch to mean that we’re relying on the concept of a doubt on a rabbinic issue.

However, the Shach and Gra 24 write that the Shulchan Aruch means only to be lenient if there’s no way for the non-Jew to mess up the mikveh such as if the only way to add water to the mikveh if by adding water through the roof in which case it would be valid since majority of the water is rainwater and some of it traveled on the ground.  

Chazon Ish Mikvaot 10:6 and Shaarei Mikvaot 201:24 explains that really it is based on having a doubt about a rabbinic issue but only if a majority of the mikveh is valid anyway to offset the issue that it is likely that the non-Jew tampered with it.</ref>

# If someone finds a man made pit of water in Israel outside of a city it is assumed to be rainwater and a kosher mikveh, but in the Diaspora it is assumed to be a non-kosher mikveh. Nowadays the assumption that it is a kosher mikveh doesn't even apply in Israel.<ref>The Mishna Mikvaot 8:1 establishes that a pit of water found outside a city in Israel is assumed to be from rainwater and not used for laundry and therefore kosher, but inside the city it is assumed that it is used for laundry and therefore drawn water which is invalid for a mikveh. In the Diaspora it is always assumed to be drawn since they aren't concerned about this. This is also found in the Tosefta Mikvaot 6:1 and codified by the Rambam Mikvaot 10:5. Bet Yosef 201:74 comments that today even in Israel the lenient assumption to consider a pit of water outside a city to be a mikveh doesn't apply since the Jews don't rule Israel. Shulchan Aruch 201:74 rules accordingly that any pit found with water is presumed to be invalid. Shaarei Mikvaot 201:302 adds that today a man made pit with water is invalid even in Israel leven where Jews live since there are many pools of drawn water for many reasons.</ref>  

# If you know that a natural pit filled with water such as in a field it is assumed to be rainwater and is a valid mikveh.<ref>Shach 201:150, Shaarei Mikvaot 201:302</ref>

==Modern Mikvaot==